Spent today in my happy place (out on the hills talking to sheep).

Christmas Lego built (while watching Rogue One).

In between bouts of guinea pig syringe feeding, I managed a 4 hour walk with a rucksack full of conference proceedings as ballast.

Was supposed to be in Brighton this weekend with the OH (seeing David Devant & His Spirit Wife, and celebrating our 30th 'anniversary'). Instead, we're at home trying to get a very poorly guinea pig to eat properly.

And we're off! UUK's Research & Innovation conference with panels on REF2029 are now underway, as pause transitions into the forward march toward November 2028, and beyond. 1/n

Lunch woes episode 3: belatedly discovered that at 5.45 am this morning, I took the OH's lunch from the fridge rather than mine (I'm vegetarian, he's not).

Friday: lost my lunch in my office. Today: accidentally attempted to eat some Blu Tack.

I like the women’s area at the gym (mainly because the squat rack is always free). But this mural really irritates me, and I’d like to replace beauty with endurance (or even maths…).

Sunrise from my office. My body had been coping well with the 9am lectures and commuting hell, but now in ‘hanging on by the finger tips until the end of term’ mode.

Tobi guinea pig wants to talk to the manager:

8 months later and (despite Tobi’s initial reticence and Rosie’s over-exuberance) they’re increasingly acting like a little old married couple:

WTF!?

Twice recently, I've had emails from journalists asking questions or asking to chat. Both times I spent time I could ill afford to spend replying, answering the questions or saying I'm happy to chat (with caveats about my expertise) & offering potential times. Neither replied to me.

My new bedside espresso machine made getting out of bed at stupid o'clock this morning much easier. Unfortunately, it wasn't much help with clearing ice off the car at -4 degrees in the dark.

My calendar for today was nearly empty, so I naively thought it was going to be a research day. In fact, I've spent the entire day acting on emails, and there are still some remaining moles which need wac-ing.

'Kendall told a UKRI event on 24 November that nearly a fifth of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s budget will be earmarked for research aligned with Labour’s missions, with £8 billion of UKRI’s £38.6 billion budget over the next five years “targeted towards the UK’s national priorities”.' 1/3

Trying to relax with Himalayan singing bowls, and Rosie guinea pig decides to squeak along…

CERN Symposium on History of Particle Physics Session on particle astrophysics & cosmology: Videos (newly released) + slides Rocky Kolb - Cosmological particle physics Michael Turner - Particle dark matter Slides, videos later? Alan Guth - Inflation Jaco de Swart - Particle Cosmology

The gym is not my natural home (and the probability of me wearing ‘scrunch bum’ shorts is identically zero) but watching the small numbers I’m lifting get slowly bigger is satisfying.

It's careers week for 3rd years, so no 9 am lectures (and 5.45 am alarms...) for me this week. Instead, I've made my annual 'why theorists should care about experiments' cameo appearance in the 1st year lab lectures and am giving a talk about dark matter to my local astronomical society tonight.

List of links to UK Cosmology PhD projects updated for 2025/26 admissions: anne-green.net/physics/UKCo...

Pros of Japanese trousers: 1) they're the right length, without me having to chop inches of material off the bottom, 2) they fit both my thighs and waist (usually trousers which go around my quads fall off my waist). Cons: I need a size large...

As a journal editor, finding referees for papers has got much harder (and more time-consuming). It's become common: i) to have to try 4-6 people before someone says yes, ii) for postdocs to decline as they're too busy.

Very fun afternoon of sumo (with Hello Kitty)

Walking from Japan House to the Royal Albert Hall and spotted Takerufuji and (number 1 favourite small rikishi) Midorifuji coming out of their hotel!

My tire likes collecting leaves, which helpfully increases the drag. It also attracts a lot of attention. One old chap suggested his wife could sit on it to increase the load…

Beautiful afternoon for a walk with my tyre:

Finished a first draft of the slides for my talk (on observational probes of primordial black hole dark matter) in the online ZOOMing in on primordial black holes seminar series on Monday. Including: i) some (trivial but often forgotten) thoughts on the interpretation of observations.

Arrived at this morning's first 9am lecture early, to make sure I had plenty of time to address any technology glitches (lecture capture, student engagement software...). It was all fine, but the sliding whiteboard was so far above my head I could only reach it by kneeling on a high wheely chair...

Never thought (as a theorist) that I'd be filling in spreadsheets about RF coils and gas regulators...

At the very hot and humid world athletics championships. After some crowd pleasing Japanese front running in the men’s 10 000m, Europeans finished 1st and 3rd. Next up the 100m finals.

Left the OH in Tokyo and got the night bus to Kamikochi for some hiking. The weather’s decidedly British and my campsite isn’t the comfiest, but had some good views.

The Ghibli museum and the ‘Wanoakari × Hyakudan Kaidan 2025’ (a gathering of 100s of onis at the 100 stairs).

Rowing boats at Takachiho gorge:

2025 Japan holiday kicking off (as all good trips to Tokyo do) with vegan ramen at T’s Tantan.

Today I got a Beighton score of 9 out of 9. Unfortunately, it's a test for joint hypermobility (and the threshold for a positive if you're over 50 is 4) so this is not a good thing.

The Nordic countries really don’t get how rude fuck is, exhibit 524:

After 4 days rest, my leg was feeling OK-ish and I was running out of books to read, so I put my gear back on and took Helge (the race mascot) round a few laps.

Probably the most enjoyable DNF* I’ve ever had… * stopping early in a fixed time race isn’t technically a DNF, but effectively it is.

On my way to the Viadal 6-day. Unlike last year (when my flight was cancelled) I’m going to make it to the start. But I’ve got an injury so can’t run. Plan is to walk day 1 and hope that my multi-day shuffle then kicks in. (1/2)

I have evidently angered the timetabling gods. My Cosmology lectures next semester are all at 9 am, which means a 5.45 am alarm for me, and poor attendance.

New yoga vest. (As a cosmologist the concept of trusting the Universe is somewhat amusing.)

Gearing up for an Arctic adventure next year (lapland.arcticultra.de):

A running injury derailed my (birthday) weekend backpacking plans so I treated myself to a pancake breakfast, which triggered various US roadtrip memories. Although, unlike American breakfasts, I did (just) manage to finish this one.

Random Friday night trivia (inspired by watching the Glastonbury festival on the telly): i) Locals refer to it as the Pilton pop festival. ii) My dad helped construct the toilet pits for one of the early editions of the festival (he was a nearby farmer, rather than a hippy).

Loving (dot-)watching a 50-something woman (Anna Troup) run down the leading man in the Summer Spine, with women currently in 3rd and 4th positions too. [Disclaimer: No, this doesn't mean that women are faster at ultra-running than men...]

This weekend’s (somewhat eclectic) reading material. I’d definitely recommend ‘Further’ to ultra runners, even though it’s about endurance on 2 wheels rather than 2 feet. It’s both interesting and laugh out loud funny.

Sunday: Silence in Sound 'creative soundscaping' workshop. Monday: OTT hand gestures (while talking about early career fellowships).

Eating chip shop chips by the sea:

Long weekend in Wales for a gong playing workshop. Squeezed in a walk up Cadair Idris this afternoon. Unfortunately the summit was in the cloud when I got there.